As he snaps pictures of the dummies, he compares the results to his expectations. It’s obviously not hard to guess that the dummy with no shield had been absolutely splattered with paint, and vise versa for the dummy completely covered by the cardboard tower shield. Those particular targets were controls for the experiment, one to represent ineffective cover and the other to represent excessive material.
Obviously, the ideal would be to completely protected with the tower shield, but carrying that around would be impractical for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it’d be too much weight. Smokey already had to lug two heavy weapons and the ammo that goes with it, not to mention his basic survival supplies for long missions. Adding that much extra weight could slow his movements to a crawl. He’d have better defense, but he’d be more of a sitting duck than he already naturally is.
On top of that, it’d be pretty impractical in a fight. He’d have a hard time aiming over it, for one. The best way Smokey could think to use it would be to strap it to his back and turn around whenever he wanted to advance or reload without taking heavy fire. Problem with that is he’d have to blind himself to the fight to do so. So yeah, tower shield’s out due to excessive material.
So, the purpose of this experiment Is to find a shield shape that blocks 100% of the shot with 0% wasted material. Obviously, such an event is unlikely in a field test, but that’s the idea. For the most part, his results reflected his expectations. Smokey may not be known for his keen intellect, but he’s been around guns all his life; he knows what his weapon’s spread looks like. Furthermore, circles cover the most area with the least amount of material, so it’d be common sense to assume a round shield would offer the most protection per pound.
And, sure enough, the circular trash can lid had scored very well in Smokey’s experiment. It was a bit big, so there’s was a significant excess, but a simple reduction in area could easily solve that problem. However, there was another shield that had scored surprisingly well. The dummy affixed with a cardboard kite shield had been spared a very significant amount of splatter, only small amounts had found their way past the barrier. There wasn’t very much excess material either, meaning that the only thing he had to do was increase the area in a few dimensions. Interesting.
It was at this moment when he heard Dawn call out. Did she—did she just call him handsome? Smokey turns around and gives her a funny look. The boy doesn’t really know how to handle that. He doesn’t know how to handle compliments at all, really. Or women. Especially not women giving him compliments. He finally, albeit awkwardly, responds after a few seconds, ”Uh, thanks. My dad and I made it.”
It’s probably not as detailed an explanation as Dawn would like to hear, but she kinda caught Smokey off guard. In fact, Smokey’s somewhat relieved when Chantou brings the conversation back on topic. ”Uh, yeah, that’s—that’s actually a better way of explaining it, now that I think about it,” he responds as he comes back toward the firing line.